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SIK never used to have a problem, but all of a sudden her needles keep clogging with blood. anyone have any ideas? She's sick of losing shots. Is there any way to remove the clog without wasting the hit? Would it maybe help if she used more water in the shot? SIK would be greatful for any input at all...

Generally you can run the whole thing under hot water, or the needle tip briefly above a flame to unclog. But then you want to shoot it as quick as possible before it clogs again. Also, like you figured, it helps to use the full 1CC of water.

Any idea why they would be clogging more all of a sudden? Maybe being dehydrated, or something, I guess..

Could be that, or the cut, or maybe you got slack on your filtering?

In SWIM's experience the blood usually leaks to the top of the needle though. How is it that it is staying at the bottom and clogging? Are you low on good veins and having trouble hitting (i.e. multiple misses = needle full of blood)?

Yeah, definately SIK was not blessed with big, juicy, easy to hit veins but usually does alright. When it clogs, the blood seems to stay down near the spike instead of rising to the top. The blood looks almost thicker, which is why I was wondering if maybe dehydration was an issue.. or if maybe the solution was too dense, (not dissloved in enough water..)

Swim thinks that swiy's blood may be coagulating faster. Everyone has different coagulation times. It ranges from 3-8 minutes.Swiy could be on the 3 minute side of a scale which is normal but it just means that swiy's blood coagulates faster . That has its advantages exm. If swiy gets a cut you will have less bleeding – but in swiy's case it’s a bit of a bummer ,as precious shots could be lost .There are tests that could be done and some are very common are :

Bleeding time testIn this test a tiny cut is made in your earlobe, or forearm, and the time taken for the bleeding to stop is measured. It is normally 3-8 minutes.

Blood count test- platelet count

where normal values could range from 150 to 400x109/L.

But there are many other factors that could effect the coagulation in either way.Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs). , Aspirin – (usually makes the blood slightly thinner so it slows the coagulation), Antibiotics, Antihistamines, Sedatives, Antidepressants, Vitamin Deficiency , Vitamin K (which is necessary to the natural formation of blood clots. Use of supplements could potentially lead to elevated coagulation test levels)

Swim finds her blood thickness to vary a lot at different times. Depending on what time of the day it is, how hydrated she is, how much activity she's had that day, if she's rattling or not, the list goes on...and of course, the thicker the blood, the quicker the pin blocks.

Eating a good diet, sleeping well, drinking a lot of water, all the general tools of a healthy lifestyle should help keep your blood nice and thin.

Obviously, if you start to have real concerns about your blood being too thick, you should make an appointment to see a doctor. Overly thick blood increases the risk of deep vein thrombosis, which is a real risk for injecting drug users. Admittedly, more so for people who use their groin, but it's still something worth keeping an eye on.

A daily dose of low-dose aspirin (usually 75mg) is often used by adults at greater risk of blood-clotting related problems, such as heart attacks, thromboses and strokes, because of its anti-coagulant properties. Although aspirin is a relatively low risk medicine, as with all medication, you shouldn't start taking it without first consulting your doctor.

This thread here has some more info on the subject of blood clotting in syringes:

SWIM finds that his needles can clog for several reasons. If its the blood congealing he usually gets a fresh pin, pulls the plunger out and slowly squirts the blocked pin into the new one, the blood floats to the top so he leaves as much blood as possible in the old pin. If its really bad he may have to re-cook with a bit of extra water and citric.

Sometimes however it can block with no (or very little) blood in the pin. This is when the H is cut with something that is making it crystallize. Sometimes changing the pin is enough to solve the problem, but sometimes it needs re-cooking with a little extra citric. The longer it takes to get a hit the more chance of it crystallizing.
Because it can take SWIM up to half an hour to get his hit there's a little trick SWIM sometimes uses when the H is heavily cut and constantly crystallizing: Cook up and stand the pin upright and leave for 30-40 mins. After this time all bash (what its cut with) goes rock hard at the bottom of the pin and the cleaner H it still liquid at the top of pin. Then squirt the liquid back into the spoon, reheat and draw up using a new pin.

Swim knew a guy who buffed his stuff back in the day and told me that caffeine was the problem. Too much and the people who seen him would say it jelled after a few mins after being rigged up. In other words people are greedy and don't do drugs. Haven't seen swim in a long time....

I use 25 gauge needles and they never ckig on me unless I'm dehydrated and I pull out huge thick chunks that resemble jello.... Normally I split and hit with no problem. Try a larger needle? What gauge do you currently use, and do you filter?